Chapter 28: Shameless!
Su Xiao pulled the lever, and with a clatter, the gears inside the launcher turned.
With a loud crash, one of the base plates at the corner of the launcher fell off, causing the entire device to tilt slightly.
Su Xiao was stunned. Wasn’t pulling the lever supposed to fire it? Why did a piece fall off instead? Not believing it, he pulled the lever several more times.
Crash, crash…
All four base plates used to stabilize the launcher fell off. Su Xiao never expected that the most conspicuous lever wasn’t for activation, but for disassembly.
Circling the launcher a few times, it became clear that Su Xiao wasn’t skilled with precision machinery. Setting a trap was fine, but analyzing the launcher’s construction? He might as well go to sleep.
Having the launcher and green phosphorus incendiary bottles but being unable to launch them was more frustrating than anything. A massive amount of battle merit vanished into thin air because he couldn’t operate a single launcher.
“Damn Dwarf craftsmanship, designing something so complicated.”
Su Xiao kicked the launcher, denting its metal guard plate.
“If I were you, I’d pull the line underneath the launcher.”
A female voice came from nearby. Su Xiao glanced toward a tree a dozen meters away, where someone was hiding.
“Who’s there? Show yourself within ten seconds.”
Su Xiao didn’t yet know about the existence of the Dark Elves. He hadn’t been in this world long, and with the stranger’s intentions unclear and them being invisible, he naturally needed to identify them.
“Rude bastard!”
The female voice carried a hint of anger.
“Five, four, three…”
Su Xiao released his aura. Whoosh—the dead leaves on the ground were blown away. Having killed at least a thousand tribal soldiers on the Black Earth Fortress earlier, his aura was now terrifyingly intense.
“Don’t misunderstand, I’m an ally.”
“Two.”
Su Xiao’s aura grew even more ferocious.
“Wait a moment.”
“One.”
“You…”
The female voice was panicked. She felt as if a malevolent beast formed of killing intent was staring at her with blood-red eyes, its icy tongue licking her exposed skin. Cold. Piercing.
Clang!
Dragon-Slashing Flash stopped before a delicate neck. The sharpness of the blade caused goosebumps to rise on the fair skin.
A pale-skinned, enticingly built, completely naked elf girl appeared. Her ears were pointed, one hand covering her chest, the other shielding her private parts.
“You… you must have done that on purpose! I’m going to report you to Lord Carlos! With an aura this strong, you can’t be a new recruit. How could you not know about us Dark Elves?”
The elf girl’s pointed ears flushed red, and her chest heaved violently, clearly furious.
“Dark Elves?”
Su Xiao examined her. Based on her build, appearance, and pointed ears, she was indeed an elf. But why would an elf be naked behind enemy lines? That was absurd.
“Your invisibility ability… requires you to be unclothed?”
From her embarrassed demeanor, as if she wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground, Su Xiao deduced she didn’t have an exhibitionist streak. Combined with her invisibility, he inferred her ability’s nature from his experience fighting various enemies.
She possessed invisibility and aura concealment, but couldn’t wear clothes while invisible, or she’d be exposed or leave major flaws.
Strength in combat was only one aspect; analyzing enemy intelligence was also essential for battle.
“Seen enough?”
The elf girl gritted her teeth in anger. If Su Xiao’s aura hadn’t reached such a terrifying level, she wouldn’t have revealed herself in this state.
“No offense intended. I’ve only been enlisted for less than a week and don’t know much about Dark Elves.”
Su Xiao withdrew his aura, and the Dark Elf girl sighed in relief before turning invisible again.
“I’m definitely going to report this! Definitely! Our princess and Lord Carlos are lovers, hmph~”
The elf girl clearly wasn’t used to such treatment.
“As you wish.”
Su Xiao didn’t care if she reported him. He’d met Carlos before, and the man wouldn’t bother him over such a trivial matter. As for silencing her, that would be the dumbest choice. Besides, someone who kept shouting about reporting was unlikely to actually do it. If she truly intended to report him to Carlos, she would have left without another word.
Returning to the launcher, Su Xiao recalled the elf girl mentioning a line underneath. After checking, he found one hidden in a groove, easily overlooked.
Now knowing how to launch, Su Xiao didn’t hesitate and pulled the line.
“Wait!”
The elf girl shouted in panic, but it was too late.
Thwack!
The launch arm shot out, flinging the thirty green phosphorus incendiary bottles. Launch successful.
The bottles were indeed thrown, but since Su Xiao had removed the launcher’s stabilizing base plates earlier, the entire device tipped over and crashed down toward him!
Su Xiao swore to the heavens that he would stay far away from unfamiliar enemy war machines in the future.
Boom!
Mud flew, and dust billowed.
The invisible elf girl’s mouth hung open. This was the first time she’d seen someone “crushed” by a launcher.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Su Xiao walked out of the dust cloud, brushing dirt off his head. Though he hadn’t seen the green phosphorus land among the enemy, the massive amount of battle merit he gained indicated it had hit a dense crowd of tribal soldiers.
“You’re not dead~”
The elf girl spoke, her tone tinged with schadenfreude, but she clearly relaxed.
“No, I’m not.”
Su Xiao shook the dirt from his clothes. With his neural reflex speed, being crushed by a launcher would be absurd.
“Where are you going? This is the rear of the tribal army. How did you even get here? You’re not a spy, are you?”
The elf girl took a step back.
“I hitched a ride.”
“Huh?”
The elf girl’s brain struggled to process this. How could a war chariot break through the tribal army?
Frustrated by the bizarre encounter, Su Xiao felt like killing someone. Conveniently, he was about to go fight anyway.
“Where are you going?”
“…”
“Hey, why aren’t you talking?”
“…”
“I wonder if we can win.”
“…”
Su Xiao walked forward in silence. He realized this random elf girl was a chatterbox.
“So petty. Fine, I won’t report you. Why won’t you talk?”
The invisible elf girl made a face at Su Xiao.
“I can sense you. That means you’re basically strolling naked behind me right now. I’m heading back to Black Earth Fortress to fight. If you want to follow, suit yourself.”
Su Xiao’s words stunned the elf girl. Her pointed ears flushed red, burning like fire.
“Shameless!”
The elf girl turned and fled into the forest. Su Xiao lit a cigarette, needing to calm down. A stunningly beautiful, naked elf girl had been wandering behind him for a while. He was a normal man; denying any desire would be a lie.
But on the battlefield, stray thoughts would get him killed.
Su Xiao walked out of the forest. A hundred meters away, tribal soldiers stood with their backs to him. They moved slowly, looking relaxed—these were rear-line troops unlikely to see combat.
Su Xiao sheathed Dragon-Slashing Flash and drew the Slaughter Dagger. He lightened his steps and approached an orc soldier.
The dagger slit the orc’s throat. The Slaughter Dagger was designed for throat-cutting.
Equipment Effect 1: Throat Slit (Passive) – When cutting any creature’s throat, deals additional damage.
Note: Additional damage equals 50%–60% of base damage, ignoring physical defense and resistance.
Equipment Effect 2: Blood Weep (Passive) – If throat-slitting triggers Effect 1, perform a stamina attribute check on the enemy. If failed, triggers Blood Weep, causing massive blood loss. Bleeding damage equals 4% of the enemy’s max HP per second for 10 seconds. This damage has priority.
Note: If enemy HP is below 30%, bleeding duration is reduced by 50% (5 seconds), but bleeding damage doubles (8% max HP per second).
Equipment Effect 3: Moonlight Radiance (Passive) – Sharpness +14, Armor Penetration +10, Penetration +9.
All three passive effects triggered simultaneously, instantly killing the orc soldier without a sound. The only noise was the blade slicing through flesh.
This faint sound puzzled a nearby dwarf. Then, he felt a chill at his throat as darkness quickly consumed his vision.
The sound could be ignored, but the spurting blood would soon expose Su Xiao. He was merely conserving energy while killing; discovery was inevitable.